Hay must not be used for bedding because it soon gets damp, and that can cause fungal spores to grow that can cause aspergillosis.
What kind of hay is safe for chickens?
Alfalfa is your friend.
Mini alfalfa hay bales and loose alfalfa hay (made for rabbits and other small pets) are available too, if you want to throw a few handfuls inside a small run. Your chickens will be busy pecking at the alfalfa all winter long, while also getting an excellent fill of protein and fiber.
What is better for chicken bedding straw or hay?
Straw is one of the best materials for bedding. It has the same advantages of pine shavings and provides something for chickens to scratch and peck through. Either of these materials can be found at your local feed or farm supply store.
What hay is best for chicken bedding?
Hay. NEVER use hay as coop bedding. Hay is livestock feed, straw is livestock bedding. Hay is too “green” and tends to harbor mold and bacteria which is extremely detrimental to poultry health.
Can I use hay instead of straw for bedding?
They look similar, but while straw makes excellent bedding for outdoor cat shelters, hay becomes a soggy mess. Hay is typically used to feed animals, like horses. It soaks up moisture, making it cold and uncomfortable for catsand has the potential to get moldy.
Will moldy hay hurt chickens?
No, your chickens should not eat anything with mold on it. Just as moldy or rotten food can make you sick, it can make them sick.
Can I use hay for my chickens?
One treat your chickens will enjoy is a humble and inexpensive bale of straw or hay. Put a bale in the chicken run and get ready for hen enthusiasm as they gleefully tear it apart. Each bale holds thousands of tiny tasty tidbits hidden amid grass stems.
Can chickens digest hay?
Yes, chickens can safely eat hay and haylage in limited amounts. Chickens may eat most grasses when they are fresh, and they can eat them dry. However, hay and haylage are not nutritionally complete and should only be allowed as an incidental food item or occasional treat.
Is Timothy Hay safe for chickens?
Although timothy hay is safe for chickens to eat and isn’t necessarily unhealthy, it just doesn’t have the nutritional value that will really benefit your chickens. So, don’t be concerned if you see your chickens eating timothy hay, but don’t go out of your way to include it in their daily diets.
What is the best thing to put in the bottom of a chicken coop?
What Do You Use on the Floor of the Coop? For the deep litter method, use pine shavings or hemp bedding as your bottom layer since they are small pieces and compost fairly quickly. Pine shavings are inexpensive and available online or at your local feed store in bales.
What is the best bedding for chickens in the winter?
Straw is one of the most popular chicken coop bedding choices for northern chicken keepers. Straw is an excellent insulator, which makes it great to use during cold winter weather. Not only is it a good insulator, but it is also easy to maintain and chickens love sorting through straw!
What is the best base for a chicken run?
Ground cover within the coop can be anything from wood chips, straw and grass to bare ground. Organic materials tend to break down quickly and plain sand is a popular choice for its durability. Whatever you choose, make sure the chickens may easily scratch and dig.
Which is better straw or hay?
Straw is not as nutritionally valuable as hay and is generally less expensive than hay. Hay is harvested while it is still a live, healthy plant. Straw is the dead stalks of plants after the valuable parts of the plants have been harvested.
Is straw or hay a better insulator?
The stiff, hollow composition of straw makes it a great insulator. Straw decomposes at a much slower rate than hay, has a very low moisture content and has no nutritional value. Choose straw for bedding, erosion control, building and insulating purposes.
What’s the difference between straw and hay?
Straw is a stalk, usually a waste product of wheat, that’s used as bedding for barnyard animals. Hay—typically alfalfa or a grass—is used as animal feed.
What is the difference between feeding hay and bedding hay?
It’s important to know the difference between ‘feeding hay’ and ‘bedding hay’ – they are both dried grass, but nutritionally, they are very different. ‘Feeding hay’ is fresher, greener, smells better, tastes better, and has more nutrients in it.
What kind of straw is best for chickens?
You’ll want to use chopped straw in your chicken coop. Non-chopped straw can cause crop impaction. Chopped straw is the safer choice.
Can chickens sleep on straw?
Straw is usually cheap and can be used as a bedding material, although it compacts easily and isn’t very absorbent, so it will need changing regularly.
Is molasses good for laying hens?
Molasses has been effectively used as a feed ingredient for all types of livestock for over 100 years. Many studies have been conducted with poultry which indicate that molasses may be successfully used to replace a portion of the cereal grain in diets for broilers, layers, and turkeys.
Can I use moldy hay for bedding?
If you have manure to put over it to keep the dust in, that might help too. It would be unwise to use moldy hay as bedding. I would also be careful about making a huge pile with it and soaking it all down. You could potentially start a fire.
Can moldy straw make chickens sick?
Moisture created from respiration and droppings dampen the surface of straw, which fosters the growth of molds, fungi and bacteria that cause respiratory illness and diseases such as Aspergillosis in chickens.